UIS baseball team rolls past Benedictine

By Marcia MartinezStaff Writer

Tuesday

Apr 22, 2014 at 8:56 PMApr 22, 2014 at 8:56 PM

With the regular season winding down, college baseball coaches are getting their teams prepared for the postseason.

A non-conference game between the University of Illinois Springfield and Benedictine University of Springfield at UIS Athletic Field on Tuesday gave them a tune-up before the final push through conference play.

UIS won 12-1 in eight innings. It was the first meeting between the teams since 2011 when the Stars won 6-3 in their inaugural season.

A trio of seniors powered the Stars at the plate. Infielder Nick Sanders went 2-for-5 with four RBIs. Infielder Blake Baker scored three runs, hit a double and had a RBI. Outfielder Adam Unes went 2-for-4 with a double.

The Prairie Stars (23-18) have nine games left before the postseason gets underway.

“I just got done telling our players ‘No regrets' the last two weeks,” UIS coach Chris Ramirez said. “That's going to be something they hear me say a lot. We have a large senior class and a lot of upperclassmen, and it's no regrets in terms of go make that diving play in outfield or make that big pitch when you are on the mound.”

Four regular-season games remain on the schedule for Bulldogs (21-14) before they attempt to defend their championship at the American Midwest Conference Tournament. The eight-team event is May 1-8 at Robin Roberts Stadium. Benedictine sits in fifth place in the AMC.

“We're not going to press the panic button,” Benedictine coach Steve Torricelli said. “We didn't throw well and they swung it well. We turned four double plays somehow. We're a much better ballclub than what we've showed in the last four games. We need to start playing with confidence like we did the first 35 games of the year.”

UIS has never qualified for the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament in the four-year existence of its program.

“We're striving to make the (Great Lakes Valley Conference) tournament,” UIS junior infielder Luke Stewart said. “Right now, we are in a good spot. If we keep hitting like we did today and pitching, I think we have a good shot to play a little further in May, which would be fun.”

The top three teams from the East and West divisions and three wild-card teams qualify. UIS is third in the East with a 14-14 record. Lewis is fourth at 12-13.

The loss for Benedictine was on the heels of a 13-4 defeat to Missouri Baptist Monday. The Bulldogs have four straight losses and are 4-6 in their last 10 games.

Senior designated hitter Travis Combs drove in Benedictine's only run with a single in the eighth inning and closed the gap to 7-1. Senior second baseman Brandon Koishor went 2-for-3 for the Bulldogs.

“We have not swung the bat real well as of late,” Torricelli said. “This team can hit and hitting is contagious. Once we get going, we're going to be very tough to beat. I like the fact that we're hosting the conference tournament and we play in a little bit of an extra gear at home.

“We have a big conference weekend coming up against (William Woods), a team we beat twice to win the tournament last year.”

With the countdown on, both teams are trying to hold it together in the home stretch.

“We can't panic,” Ramirez said. “We've split our last six conference games. When the games have been smooth, we've rolled with it. The games we have lost, we haven't taken the punch very well. We have to understand that the other teams are going to throw a punch, we have to absorb it and minimize the damage.

“Hopefully, we play clean baseball the last two weeks, and at the end we have a chance to continue the season.”

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